Melting - Sean Ashcroft Page 0,53

as his hands landed on my butt.

“I like having sex with you,” I said. “For the record. All seven or eight minutes of it.”

“I have since learned about foreplay,” Hayden said.

I chuckled again, nipping his lower lip before pulling back and climbing—carefully, again—back into the driver’s seat.

“Have you?” I asked a gaping Hayden, glancing at his crotch and smirking with satisfaction at the obvious bulge there. “Because I was planning to school you today.”

Hayden got the hang of the game pretty much straight away, which only proved just how made for each other we were.

By the time I’d pulled out of the parking lot, on the way to the spot I’d mentally picked out for our picnic, his hand was resting on my knee.

By the time I was pulling into the secluded cove no one ever went to because there was a sandier, whiter beach just a few miles down the coast, that hand had inched its way up to the top of my thigh.

This was going to be so much fun.

Unlike a few days ago, this time there was a rug and a real picnic, the kinds of things I thought Hayden might appreciate. Leftover birthday cake, lavender lemonade from the tree and bushes in the yard, local cheese, fresh crusty bread from the sourdough starter I’d been babying for months, and one beer each, since I was driving and I doubted he wanted to be miles ahead of me.

Grown-up stuff.

I’d decided it was okay if we did grown-up stuff together, as long as we didn’t have to be grownups just yet. At least, not perpetually tired, sore, miserable grownups.

Hayden would’ve laughed at me.

“This looks good,” he said as I handed him the basket, taking the rug I’d draped over his arm earlier and spreading it out in the shelter of the dunes, under a big shade tree so we wouldn’t end up crispy-fried by the sun.

“Did you make this?” he asked, surprised, pulling out the bottle of lemonade.

“And the bread,” I said.

“Wow,” Hayden lifted the tea towel off the loaf, eyes falling closed as he breathed in the smell. “Wow,” he repeated. “That’s it, I’m taking you back to New York with me as a consultant.”

I laughed, taking the basket from him and setting things out. “Don’t make any promises until you’ve tried it. It might suck.”

“Everything you’ve done for me has been amazing,” Hayden said, kneeling down next to me on the blanket. “I have no reason to think you’d stop now.”

I blushed all the way down the back of my neck as we sat down to eat, pouring lemonade for Hayden and waiting eagerly for a verdict.

I shouldn’t have worried. Everything he tried, he loved, and he wasn’t shy about making it obvious.

“It’s so hard to balance lavender,” he said, letting me pour for him again into the plastic tumbler that’d come with this picnic set I’d had for what felt like my entire life, passed down from an aunt. I’d never actually used it before. “You’re a natural.”

“Didn’t wanna disappoint you,” I said, sipping my own drink as we picked at the remains of our lunch. There was still beer and cake, but Hayden was already sitting back against the tree trunk, relaxed, one hand on his stomach.

It’d keep.

I crawled over to settle in next to him, humming happily as he curled an arm around my waist, resting my head on his shoulder.

This was nice.

“This has been a great summer,” Hayden said.

“It’s been two weeks,” I pointed out. “Not exactly a summer.”

“More of a summer than I’ve had in a long time,” Hayden countered. “Can we focus on the great part?”

“We can focus on the great part,” I said. I was still thinking about how little time we had left, but I was determined not to ruin today.

I let my eyes fall closed as the waves crashed on the shore, sea birds calling to each other, a light breeze rustling through the leaves, and just the faintest hint of Hayden’s heartbeat under my ear.

The sound of Hayden’s phone going off almost broke my goddamn heart.

He fished it out of his pocket, frowning at the screen.

I sat up, grudgingly accepting that playtime was over, he had to get back to the real world, and we’d at least had a nice couple of hours.

“Where are you going?” Hayden asked.

“You’re busy.” I shrugged. “I don’t wanna be in the way.”

“You’re not in the way,” he said.

Then the most magical, surprising thing that’d happened all summer happened right in